Chapter Twenty Eight

Feeling the blood pound between her veins, Jenn extended her hand toward the older woman. Slim, dark haired, attractive but yet normal looking, this woman was nothing what Jenn had imagined Jon’s wife to be like. Hell she didn’t even know what she had imagined her as, something along the lines of a platinum blonde bombshell perhaps. Clearing her throat she mustered a warm smile as they shook hands.

“Hi Dorothea, Pleased to finally meet you!”

“Likewise, my daughter has told me a lot about you.”

Dorothea’s face remained impassive, smiling politely as she looked Jenn over. An awkward silence ensued as the two women regarded one another. Jenn could feel her cheeks burning and for once was at a complete loss for words. Thankfully Steph was anxious to show her mother the rest of the barn and grabbed her arm.

“Come up here Mom, I wanna show you all the painting I’ve done!”

Snapping back to reality Jenn smiled and nodded, grateful for the intervention however innocent it may have been.“Yes, do have a look, Steph has a hidden talent with a paint brush!”

Dorothea pursed her lips slightly and followed her daughter up the aisle towards the office. Jenn followed behind forcing herself to breathe evenly in an attempt to stop her cheeks from burning guiltily. She had rarely felt as intimidated as this woman was making her feel right now even having barely spoken more than a handful of words to her. ‘Shit Jenn, SHIT! What the hell have u gotten yourself into?’

 

In the office now, Steph was excitedly showing Dorothea the new work station, complete with fax machines, printers and scanners. The walls were all freshly painted and they had fitted shelves and filing cabinets to store folders and records.

“Very impressive honey, I’ll have to tell your father not to get the painters in next time we redecorate huh?”

At the reference to Jon, Jenn’s stomach did a double flip and she sat herself down at the desk, pretending to shut down the computer. In all reality she wasn’t sure how much longer her legs were going to hold her up they were shaking that hard. Willing herself to focus on the screen, she nervously twirled the mouse around on the pad watching the little cursor zigzag across it.

“We’re keeping this wall blank for all the trophies and ribbons we’re gonna get in the spring aren’t we Jenn?”

 Steph motioned toward the one remaining wall which was void of any decoration. “Jenn??”

“Huh?!” She snapped her head up and smiled brightly at the teenager. “Yep, we’ll have that wall filled by this time next year!"

Knowing that Steph’s mom was less than thrilled about this venture she was anxious to instil confidence in Dorothea that this was a serious operation her daughter was embarking on.

Pulling out car keys from her purse, Dorothea smiled at her daughter as she handed them to her.

“Head out to the car honey and wait for me, I’ll be out in a moment.”

Steph glanced anxiously between the two woman as she took the keys. “Um, sure Mom…..see you Monday Jenn?”

Feeling full sure that her actual pulse was going to leap from her temples, Jenn nodded and winked at her. “You bet! Time to get to work then!”, motioning to the walls around them she grinned at her ,“Think you’ve painted all that can be painted by now!”

“Cool! See you then!”

Waiting until her daughter had left the room, Dorothea turned to face Jenn, who was still sitting bolt upright behind the desk. Arms folded, her face took on a new demeanour as she met Jenn’s eyes.

“I am unaware if my husband has told you I am not completely behind this venture……. “, she motioned for Jenn to remain silent as she paused, “……however I am willing to go along with it providing there are some compromises.”

“Compromises?” Jenn raised her eyebrows and waited for her to continue.

“Yes, in my daughter’s best interests I don't want to see her waste valuable years when she could be studying to further herself.”

Jenn narrowed her eyes slightly starting to feel herself get riled up at the notion of Steph ‘wasting years’. Pushing back the chair she stood up, her heart beat returning to normal status as she clicked into professional mode.

“Let me assure you Dorothea, Steph is not wasting time here! If that was the case I would be wasting my time here!” Looking directly into her eyes, Jenn defiantly leaned forward on the desk, “And I do not waste my time lightly.”

Laughing without humour Dorothea’s eyes flashed back at her. “Oh I am quite sure you don’t!” her words hung on the air in the icy atmosphere that had suddenly enveloped the room.

Staring at her for a moment longer than was probably strictly necessary, Jenn eventually dropped her eyes and sat down heavily in the chair again.

“Compromises?”

Nodding, Dorothea moved around the small office and went on to explain that she was prepared to let Steph go on tour with the horses providing she also took on a distance learning degree that she could study and work on at the same time as competing.

Jenn thought for a moment, “That’s going to be a lot of extra work on her, how does she feel about it?”

Dorothea smiled thinly, “I think at the moment she’ll agree to anything if I support her on this.” Shrugging her shoulders, she sighed., “Stephanie can be as stubborn as my husband at times but I’m putting my foot down. She studies as well or I pull the plug on this thing - end of discussion.”

Jenn was acutely aware that at no time during their conversation had Dorothea referred to Jon as her ex-husband. In fact she seemed to be playing the husband card to it’s full advantage. Or perhaps Jenn was being overly sensitive to the use of that particular word considering she’d had mind blowing sex with this woman’s ‘husband’ only a few days ago. What the hell had she been thinking?

“Well I would appreciate it if you would discuss this with Jon….your husband….” emphasising the last word, she stood to leave the office, “as soon as possible so that if needs be I can make alternate arrangements.”

Dorothea raised her eyebrows, “Alternate arrangements?”

“Well yes! I made the move over here on the understanding that Stephanie was pursuing full time competition. Now it seems that might not be the case!” Jenn shook her head angrily, “If Steph wants to study as well as compete that’s fine by me, but it seems to me that for the moment nobody is on the same wavelength here and when you uproot your life and move to a different continent for a job, you at least expect a semi-permanent status in the job description!”

Seeming a little taken back by Jenn’s outburst Dorothea moved to walk out the door in front of her.

“I can appreciate that and I’m sorry if you’ve been brought here under different illusions.” Pausing in the doorway she turned to face Jenn with an icy glare. “I think it might be for the best if Jon and myself take this weekend to discuss options with our daughter privately, we were thinking of taking the kids away for a surprise treat - I trust that’s not a problem?”

Different illusions?? Lady you have no damn idea!

“Of course, the horses won’t be arriving till next week anyway so if plugs need to be pulled we’ve got a little time.” Staring at the ground, her eyes threatened to spill over with tears of anger and frustration, “I hope for Steph’s sake that decisions are made sooner rather than later, she’s a talented girl - you can tell her I’ll see her Monday but I would appreciate a phone call from either yourself or your husband before then.”

Without waiting for a reply she turned and headed for the barn door. She was shaking with pent up fury not only because potentially she may now be out of a job, but mainly because Jon had taken her for a fool. The man was no more separated than Adam and bloody Eve, his wife’s attitude was undeniably one of a relationship that was very much still in progress. Jesus Christ she had been having a torrid affair for the last few weeks with a man that was still very, very married!

Storming up the path to her house, she yanked open the door and headed straight for the fridge to pull out a beer. Pulling off the top she took a long swig, almost choking when her throat nearly refused to swallow. She fought back the tears that she could feel rising again as she slumped to the floor. Her chest was constricting like a rubber band and the beer bottle shook in her hands. How could she have been so damn stupid! A sob escaped her and the inevitable angry and hot tears started to flow freely down her face as she fumbled for her cell phone.

5.58pm Dinner is cancelled - try going home to your wife instead.